"After three years of recording and touring, NYC orchestral pop favorites,La Strada, known for their raucous shows and stunning instrumental arrangements announced that they will be parting ways as of December, 2010. James Craft announced to the band that he needs to move on to different goals and priorities that would exclude involvement in La Strada, and the rest of the band met Craft's announcement with supportive acceptance.

Founder and lead singer James Craft said: "I've loved being in La Strada, but for now I need extended time away from the scene and want to work on something new." Devon Press, multi-instrumentalist and co-writer agreed saying, "this is probably one of the most amicable breakups in history and we all still love each other very much and will probably continue to work together in some capacity." The newest member to join the La Strada ranks, cellist Isaiah Gage said, "I'm so thankful that I got to not only play such great music in the short time I was in the band, but more importantly meet such great friends."

La Strada still has plenty of activity planned between now and the official split on December 1st, with plans to record their new songs for release, play 3 shows during CMJ and throw a late November farewell show/party to be announced soon.

The band has a message for friends and fans of La Strada:

"From the very bottom of our hearts and souls we want to thank every one of you that came to see us play and supported us these last few years. We all feel extremely blessed to have such wonderful fans; we'll never forget you!""

Those CMJ shows of course already happened. Stay tuned for more.

UPDATE: La Strada's final show will take place at the Rock Shop on 11/20.

Not many bands can sidestep the natural (or unnatural) process of becoming poppier as their career continues. That's why people are always saying, "Well yea they're ok, but I only listen to their early stuff." On the other hand, bands that force feed experimentation into their music to avoid this have their own problems.